Cohen dishes on Donald Jr. in testimony

Credit: Reuters Studio

Published on February 27, 2019 - Duration: 02:06s

Cohen dishes on Donald Jr. in testimony

President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress on Wednesday that some reimbursement checks issued to him for hush-money payments to an adult film star were signed by Donald Trump Jr. Nathan Frandino has more.

Cohen dishes on Donald Jr. in testimony

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL COHEN, WITNESS, SAYING: "I did it to protect Mr. Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump." President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen left no Trump untouched in his Capitol Hill testimony on Wednesday, as he implicated Donald Trump, Jr. in the hush-money payouts that prosecutors say may have violated campaign finance laws.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL COHEN, WITNESS, SAYING: "He is a conman." In one of the bombshells of the tense hearing, Cohen for the first time said it was both the president AND Trump, Jr. who signed checks reimbursing him for payments that bought the silence of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she and Trump had an affair - which he denies.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL COHEN, WITNESS, SAYING: "This $35,000 check was one of 11 check installments paid throughout the year while he was president Other checks to reimburse me for the hush money payments were signed by Donald Trump Jr." Cohen pleaded guilty last year to campaign finance violations for arranging those payments.

Cohen also described a meeting with Trump in the lead-up to the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between top campaign aides, Trump, Jr. and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton.

President Trump has long maintained he knew nothing of the meeting in advance, but Cohen cast doubt on that version of events.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL COHEN, WITNESS, SAYING: "And I recalled Don Jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, and saying 'the meeting is all set.'

And I remember Trump saying, 'Ok, good.

Let me know.'" Cohen said he believes Donald Trump would have been in the loop.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL COHEN, WITNESS, SAYING: "Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world, and, also, that Don Jr. would never set up any meeting of significance alone, and certainly not without checking with his father." The meeting is a focus Special Counsel Robert Mueller as he looks into possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, an allegation Trump has repeatedly denied.